Brighton Comedy Festival is keeping the laughs coming for its second week. Duncan Hall speaks to some of the big names heading south – for tickets call 01273 709709.

IF Hollywood ever decides to do The Hangover Part Four and Zach Galifianakis isn’t available producers could approach Canadian comic Glenn Wool.

Not only does he look the part - sporting the requisite beard and full figure - but when he speaks to The Guide he’s also experienced some Las Vegas-connected memory loss following a trip to Nevada to see buddy Doug Stanhope perform.

“People keep putting pictures up online of stuff I had forgotten ever happened,” says a clearly sleep-deprived Wool from his new condo in Vancouver.

“I saw on Facebook this picture of me and a little person who had a haircut and clothing like Mr T.

“If I forgot that what else did I forget? I’ve really got to start remembering more and drinking less...”

The show Wool is bringing to the Brighton Comedy Festival, Wool’s Gold, is essentially a greatest hits collection of his last few years on stage - as seen at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

“The funny part was realising which parts of my old shows were bad,” he says.

“I have in my mind’s eye what the best bits were – but when you go back you realise it wasn’t a great bit, I just swore a bit. The real strength in the writing was elsewhere.”

That doesn’t mean the whole show will be frozen in time though – with Wool planning to bring in topical sections, and eliminate some of the older references.

“I’ve got a big bit about the financial crisis and the crash which I could never make funny in the way I wanted to,” he says. “People are like: ‘well – it sucked and it’s over’. I think the big thing about it was how the bankers needed to be punished – and still all these years on nothing has happened to them!”

Wool is always writing in the Moleskine pad he carries with him everywhere.

“Every time a young comic asks me for some advice I always tell them I will teach them how to write a joke,” says Wool.

“I ask them to show me their pen and piece of paper, and nine out of ten young comics say they write on their phones. It’s like they’ve failed the first test.

“Sometimes a bit will stand up on its own, or I will write a big bit which hoovers up all the little ideas. Sitting and writing it down it’s like a memory game – it helps you remember it more. It’s all part of the writing process, you never forget a laugh.”

Wool has just penned a new live show ready for next year. But in between touring shows he has embraced the podcast, working with the likes of Stanhope and Frankie Boyle on long rambling recording sessions talking about anything and everything.

“When I did one with Frankie in Glasgow we had written nothing,” he says.

“Apparently without any script me and Frankie love talking about demons and time travel...”

Glenn Wool: Wool’s Gold, Brighton Dome Studio Theatre, New Road, Friday, October 17